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Claims he is healthy to play for Pirates; informal meeting next

Tuesday, September 24, 2002

By Robert Dvorchak, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Pat Meares has filed a grievance against the Pirates with the Major League Baseball Players Association, contending that he is healthy enough to play.

	Pat Meares has not played this season. (Matt York, Associated Press)

The Pirates have denied his claim, saying his injured left hand impairs his ability to play at the major-league level.

Under union procedures, the next step is for both parties to sit down at an informal session and present their sides, which could result in a settlement.

If the sides do not agree, the case will be heard by an impartial arbiter. In this case, it would be Shyan Das, who handled the grievance on the contraction talks. A tentative date to hear the case has been set for Nov.1, but there's a possibility it could be delayed until spring training.

Meares has not played a game this season and is on the 60-day disabled list. Because of his injury and inability to perform, the Pirates sought a disability claim with their insurance carrier to recover a portion of Meares' salary, which amounts to $7.5 million this season and next.

While the grievance complicates things, the Pirates will go through the technicalities of returning Meares to the roster and bringing him back for spring training to test the health of his hand, which was injured and operated on in 1999.

A player on the 60-day disabled list does not count against the active roster during the season. But during the off-season, the procedure is to put a player on the 40-man roster. Meares' health and playing status will be determined again in the spring. He will either be judged healthy enough to play or put on the long-term disabled list, which would mean another insurance claim.

Meares has not been with the team since April. He was sent home to Wichita, Kan., and assigned a rehabilitation program to strengthen his hand.

Meares had hoped the Pirates would release him so he could pursue playing for another team. But an outright release jeopardizes the Pirates' ability to file an insurance claim.